


Hope

by chvotic



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Beating, Blood, Child Abuse, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Crying, Father-Son Relationship, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Hydra (Marvel), Kidnapping, Needles, Nightmares, Out of Character, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Plot Inaccuracies, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Avengers, Protective Tony Stark, Sad, Serious Injuries, Swearing, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Torture, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15987125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chvotic/pseuds/chvotic
Summary: Sure, he was fucked, but there was nothing else he could do. If he had to be strong for Peter, he would. Peter would undoubtedly have an even harder time coming out of what had just happened than Tony would have, and Tony found himself wishing he could take all of his kid's pain away and put it on his own shoulders, just so Peter didn't have to bare the burden all by himself.But things would get better. They had to.All he could do was hope.Or, Tony and Peter are targeted in an unfortunate scheme of revenge.





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> read the tags!
> 
> ok so i don't really know what to say for all of this... i wasn't planning for this to be 12k words but i guess i just got way too into it??
> 
> i thought about separating this into chapters but... why not have it all in one so you don't have to wait? ;)
> 
> well, i have nothing else to say.
> 
> enjoy i guess :p

It wasn't meant to turn out like this.

They were meant to have a movie night, just the two of them. Tony knew Peter had been having a hard week with Spider-Man, the dickhead Flash at school and was having a disagreement with May, so he wanted to do something nice. Tony Stark doing something nice was rather abnormal, but it was beginning to become the opposite the more Peter came around to the tower to work in the lab with him.

They were meant to have a nice night together, he had been trying to make Peter a little happier after his shitty week. It had been good, in the beginning, until FRIDAY was beginning to alert him of danger, and Peter significantly tensed up beside him just a few seconds prior and he had just been going to ask why.

"Boss, I am detecting-" A pause. "Boss, I am detecting, I am detecting, I am detecting, I am detect-" Tony had shot off of the couch, dragging Peter with him as he moved. Panic was shooting through his veins at full speed, his AI's repeated words being the only sound in the tower. Someone had hacked her. Someone had hacked FRIDAY. How was that even possible? After losing JARVIS, Tony had made sure to modify FRIDAY in a way that she couldn't be hacked. How was this happening? What was happening?

"Mr. Stark." Peter whispered beside him, one hand gripping Tony's sleeve. "Something's happening."

Tony's blood was ice cold. Without FRIDAY, he couldn't get to his suits, and he didn't have his nanotech armour on him. Whoever was hacking her would undoubtedly be in the tower, and they could be reaching the floor at any second, and there was no time for him to get into the tech room to find out the problem. He didn't know how much time they even had to begin with, but FRIDAY was close to impossible for getting hacked. Were they coming to get him? Was this another hit on him? Were they coming for Peter? Had someone seen them together or something?

With those terrifying thoughts, Tony took off for the safest room on his floor. As he ran and pulled Peter along with him, he internally cursed himself for not keeping any armour of any sort up here with him. Everything was up in the lab, and there was no time for him to even take the lift to get up there. Usually, he would have had some sort of armour wrapped around his wrist or the nanotech reactor, but this was the one time he didn't have either. Pepper had been insiting he let his guard down just a little, so he had. He took of the nanotech reactor and replaced htem with his wrist gadgets. Though, tonight, he had left them aside. He didn't think they would need it, he hadn't before.

He should have let it on. What was he thinking?

Even so, whoever was hacking FRIDAY could already be making their way up the lift, giving them little to no time to really do anything. It wasn't like they could just leap off of the balcony to get away, he was sure Peter would be able to do that if he had his suit.

How could someone have possibly got past all of his security and eighty odd floors without being noticed? What the fuck was going on here?

He yanked Peter into the safe room, which he had installed specifically for things like this, or by any chance that the Hulk got loose and ransacked his tower. He hadn't been expecting either of them to happen, it had been more of a precaution than a necessity.

He pushed Peter inside before coming in himself, making sure every lock he had on the door was forcefully shut and pushed the kid further away. Peter's eyes were wide and panicked, Tony's heart pounding in his ears as he led him to the furthest corner from the door. "Mr. Stark, something's wrong! Let me go out and-"

"I'm going to stop you right there. We don't know what's going on, and there's no way I'm letting you of all people out of my sight." Tony whisper-yelled, praying that whatever was happening with FRIDAY was just a bug. A malfunction.

But his creations such as his AI never malfunctioned, and Peter's senses never did either.

Whatever was happening, it was deemed to be bad.

"We just gotta stay here. I'm going to make a call, and then hopefully we can get out of here." Tony muttered, mostly to himself rather than his mentee. Peter was close to him, his fearful eyes trained on the door as the silence engulfed them for just a few seconds. Tony felt only slightly comforted by the fact that there was no abnormal sounds of destruction from outside, but he couldn't feel relieved just yet. Anything could be happening on the lower floors. God, the building could topple over at any second.

Well, he was sure they would be able to feel the tremors before that happened. And there was no tremors, so maybe that wasn't the case. Though, he swore he could hear the faint sound of gunfire, but there was no way he could be certain. "A call? What do you mean? I could go out there and-"

"Stop that." Tony snapped, reaching into his back pocket with only an ounce of shame. There was no time to feel shame right now. Someone had hacked FRIDAY, which was something that no one should have been able to do. "I'm gonna call for help. With Fri offline, my suits are useless and I don't have my nanotech armour. This is also the only phone I have on me, which I really should have thought about..."

He trailed off as he pulled out the old flip phone, knowing Peter had no idea what it meant. "A flip phone? Those still exist? Why-"

"Long story." Tony muttered, quickly opening the thing and going to it's only contact. Sure, Tony had been carrying the thing around him since Steve had mailed it to him. Sure, he had done that. But who was he to care when it had actually come in handy for once. Tony pinpointed the exact moment when Peter saw the screen, his breath hitching. He said nothing, and neither did Tony.

There was no time for hesitation, so he clicked call and raised the old phone to his ear. It took a few rings, and Tony wished it could have done less. They didn't have time. Something bad was happening. They needed out.

Tony wanted to ignore the thought that Steve could literally be anywhere. This call was useless. 

"Tony?" Steve's dreadfully familiar voice filled his ears, Tony having no time to feel nostalgic.

"We need help." Tony snapped, feeling Peter move closer to him as sounds began to make their way to Tony's ears. Gunshots. Definitely gunshots. Something bad was happening. Something really, really bad. FRIDAY's faint voice repeating the same words over and over was still heard, though it had gotten quieter. Almost as if she were dying...

No. Not another JARVIS. No.

"What's wrong?" Steve had asked, his voice wavering. "What's happening?"

"I don't know, I don't know. FRIDAY's been hacked. Someone's in the tower and they're shooting. I don't know what's going on, Cap. No one should be able to hack Fri." Tony rambled, noticing when Peter pushed closer and closer to him as the sounds got louder. It was almost as if it were in the floor just below them. "Peter and I are hiding, but I don't know what to do. No one should be able to get in this tower, Cap. Where the hell are you?"

"Wakanda." Fuck. "We're coming."

"Wakanda? What the fu- you're not gonna make it." Tony snapped, suddenly angry as the gunshots ceased. "I have nothing to protect myself or Peter. Jesus Christ, Steve, what am I supposed to do? Why are you in fucking Wakanda?"

"It's a long- don't worry about it now. We're coming." Steve repeated as if that would make everything better. With a hacked AI, no suits and a super kid, Tony had no idea what to do. This wasn't supposed to be happening. They were supposed to have a nice movie night, they were meant to be having fun. This, this was not fun. "Nat's already getting the jet ready. The others are coming too. And who's Peter?"

"Steve, you're not going to fucking make it. Whoever's destroying my tower sounded pretty determined." Tony snapped, ignoring Steve's question while silently cursing himself for giving the tower so many floors. "Jesus fucking Christ."

"We're coming." Steve sounded panicked, and Tony knew for a fact that he had no idea what he was doing. "Just- just hold on."

That was the last thing Steve had said to him before Tony shut the phone. He couldn't listen to that bastard, he couldn't listen to him lie. Again. He couldn't deal with that right now, and all Tony wanted to do was scream.

Before he could do so, something had exploded.

And to Tony's utter disbelief, the entire door was blown off of it's hinges. That was NOT supposed to happen.

Tony had immediately launched himself over Peter, the two of them falling into a heap on the floor with Tony in front, Peter behind. The kid had yelled, his face pressed into Tony's shoulder as the screeching metal of what was once a door went skidding across the floor. How had they done it? How was that possible? The Hulk wasn't meant to even be able to break through that door, or the walls. What the fuck was happening?

Tony had barely enough time to turn around before someone was grabbing him, beginning their attempts to yank him away from Peter. In return, Tony had yelled and Peter had clung onto him, Tony only managing to get a glimpse of the black masks before he was being yanked back again, much more forcefully this time. No matter how hard he had tried to keep ahold of Peter, they were ripped away from each other and Tony was screaming at the top of his lungs in anger and desperation.

He was being held by two men, and before he could comprehend what was happening, he was being let go of and Peter had disappeared from his vision. The distinct sounds of fighting erupted all around him, panic encasing him as he looked around for his kid. He almost had a solid heart attack when he saw him fighting against three people at once, the utter determination on the kid's face making Tony's stomach curl in discomfort as he watched everything play out in front of him. He recognised these soldiers, he knew them. Where did he know them from...

His train of thought was blocked instantly when Peter was hit with something hard across the head, giving no time for the kid to react, even with his senses. The sound of his body hitting the floor being one that Tony had never wanted to hear again. He had tried to fight off the soldiers, he had tried to get out of their grasp and over to Peter, who was being dragged from Tony's safe room by his ankles.

Though, he couldn't do much before there was the distinct feeling of a pinprick in his neck, and soon the roof was turning into a treadmill and his vision was fading in an out, along with his mind.

The last thing he had seen before fading into unconsciousness was the familiar face of Justin Hammer hovering above him, the last thing he felt being pure rage, and the last thing he had heard was FRIDAY's repeated, hacked voice.

_I am detecting, I am detecting, Boss, I am detecting..._

And that's where he found himself, curled up in a cell with no Peter and no Iron Man suit. Defenceless.

Just like Afghanistan.

He didn't know how long he had been there, staring at the bars of his cell which contained one bed and one disgusting toilet. He remembered the soldiers and he remembered seeing Justin Hammer's face, and he also remembered Peter being dragged away from him like a rag doll. He felt enraged, he felt terrified, he felt tired. His neck hurt from the injection, his mind only having two thoughts running through it.

_Peter._

_Hydra._

Tony had no idea what to do with himself.

He swore he could have been staring at the bars for days, just waiting for someone to come and tell him what the hell was going on, so he could demand where his kid was and what was happening to him. He wanted to know what had happened at his tower, he wanted to know how Hydra were even still functioning, he wanted to know how Hammer had broken out of jail and teamed up with just about the worst organisation on the planet. Why couldn't someone just come an tell him what was happening? Why couldn't he wake up from this terrible nightmare?

He could have barely been staring at the bars for a few hours before the silence was broken, the sounds of yells and crying meeting his ears along with the sickening screech of metal. Tony had clambered onto his feet within seconds, dragging his sluggish body over to the bars and wrapped his hand around two of them. He felt like a literal convict in that moment, but he ignored that thought as he tried to see what was going on and who was crying.

It took him a few seconds of brain power to figure out exactly who was crying.

And when he saw him, Tony had wanted to kill everyone in his sight. 

Peter was almost naked, being pulled by the arms as his knees dragged across the floor. There was bruises covering his arms, chest, stomach, legs, face, everything. There was blood pouring out the kid's nose, a cut on his cheek and eyebrow, his hair ruffled and messy over his eyes. All the poor thing had left was his boxers, and Tony had felt his mouth dropping open in complete horror as he gave his kid a once over. What the fuck?

The next thing he found was Hammer's smirking, very fucking annoying face. Those glasses, hair, face, eyes, everything. "I'm going to fucking kill you." Tony growled, pushing as far up against the metal bars as he could, his teeth bared as he seethed. "I'm going to make you suffer, you son of a bitch!"

"Oh really?" The man replied, smiling almost innocently. Before Tony could clap back, his eyes merely caught sight of the electric weapon before he was falling back from the cell's bars, his body lighting up in sheer agony as he fell backwards and onto the concrete floor. He was left twitching, his head hurting after hitting his head on the floor as he listened to the cell door opening, barely being able to hear the sound over his ringing ears.

He had forced himself to sit up, looking up just in time to see Peter get thrown onto the ground with a harsh cry, his battered body falling right next to Tony before the screeching of metal was heard once again as the cage was shut. Tony felt like an animal, caged up like this.

But feeling like an animal was nothing compared to what Peter might be feeling.

_Fuck._

Ignoring his muscle pain, he dragged himself over to Peter who lay sobbing on the floor, his head facing Tony and arm reaching out for him. There was something around Peter's neck that looked sickeningly like a collar, Tony's insides curling as he reached the kid, helping him into a somewhat seated position before cradling him to his chest. "M-M-Mr S-Stark." 

"Jesus Christ, what the hell did they do to you?" Tony whispered, gently running a hand over the kid's cheek with tears in his own eyes. They had never really been this close to each other before, they had never really hugged, they had never been overly affectionate. But now that Peter was here, and looking like this, Tony knew nothing but to comfort him as if he had done it many times before. "I'm going to fucking kill them. All of them."

"T-they k-k-kept asking me a-about y-you." Peter stammered, his hands fisting Tony's shirt. "I d-didn't tell t-them a-anything." He was sobbing again, and despite all of Tony's morals, he gently began rocking his kid back and forth. "M-Mr S-Stark."

"Oh, Mr. Stark." Tony jumped, Peter flinched. He hadn't even realised the three men were still in the corridor, staring at them through the bars. Two soldiers in black masks so similar to the ones he had seen in old photographs from Cap's time. From Schmidt, Red Skull. God. "Isn't it lovely that we finally see each other after all these years?"

Tony quite literally growled, shifting his body so he was shielding Peter away from that sickening bastard's face. "Get away from us."

"Oh, Tony, you wish I could." Hammer whispered, his voice sounding quite different from the last time Tony had seen the man. He sounded more... more evil. He sounded like Hydra alright. "But the thing is, you have something I want."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "What more could you possibly want after going so low to team up with the remains of Hydra?" 

Hammer laughed. It was shrill, it was eerie, and honestly, Tony felt a spike of fear in his chest. "Hydra never left, Mr. Stark."

"So what do you want then, you sick bastard!" Tony yelled, making Peter jump and curl more into him, Tony hating the fact that Peter whimpered. "Sorry kiddie." He ran a hand through his mentee's hair, glaring daggers in Hammer's direction over Peter's head. 

"Well, firstly, I want Barnes." Tony's breath hitched. Images of his parents dying to James Barnes' hand flashed through his mind, along with the memories of Steve neglecting to tell him about what had happened along with the fight. His chest closed in slightly, reminding him of how his once teammate, and friend, had driven his shield into his chest without an ounce of hesitation. "Secondly, I want to find out what's so special about this kid."

Peter tensed, and Tony's head shot back up from where he had been looking at the kid's face.

Justin Hammer was grinning. "Oh, you don't like that, do you? Was it the Barnes part, or the kid part?"

"You're going to die for this." Tony growled, ignoring the man's shrill question. 

"Hm, I don't think so." Hammer replied, smiling sickeningly once again. "You don't get me what I want, I'll be angry."

Tony smiled coldly in response. "Ooh, I'm so terrified."

"You will be." Hammer smiled again, fixing his glasses again before turning around, gesturing for the two Hydra dressed guards to follow him. They did as told without hesitation, and finally they were left alone. Tony ignored the heaviness of his chest and the shaking of his hands as he gently lifted Peter's head up, resting it on his shoulder where he could see the kid's face.

As gently as he could, he used his sleeve to wipe the blood from under his nose and his mouth, Peter flinching in response. He muttered apologies, barely cringing at the new blood stain on his once nice dress shirt. He had been dressed for his meeting that day, and had never bothered to get changed. He still had his tie, his undershirt and his dress pants, but somewhere along the ride his shoes had disappeared. His socks remained intact.

Tony felt uneasy as he cradled Peter's battered body, which he could see was already beginning to heal in some places. Some bruises were changing colours right in front of his eyes, but the majority of them stayed that ugly purple-greenish colour. Thank God the kid had those freaky powers of his, Tony was sure a normal teenager wouldn't have been able to be as functional as Peter seemed to be. The said kid was staring up at him, his tearful eyes filled with pain and confusion as he maintained his eye contact with Tony. 

"M-Mr S-Stark?" Peter whispered, one shaky hand reaching up to touch Tony's neck. Tony flinched a little, Peter's fingers touching over where the needle had been forced into his skin. of course Peter would worry about Tony instead of himself. Of course he would notice the one and only wound he had.

Tony shouldn't have just one. He should have more. He should have more wounds, he should have been the one to get beaten up by Justin Hammer. This was his mess, not Peter's. God, Peter was just a kid. He shouldn't have been involved in this in the first place.

Hopefully, Steve and whoever had been with him would be able to figure out where they were. Maybe Rhodey would figure it out. God, what about Pepper? Happy?

His AI had been hacked. How had he let that happen?

How had he let Peter get mixed up in this horrid whirlwind?

Somehow, during all of these thoughts he had gradually moved to stand up, holding Peter up and gently guiding him in the direction of the tiny, rather uncomfortable-looking single bed that had been placed in the far right side of the cell. He laid Peter down, refusing to look at his bruises for an umpteenth time as he kneeled beside the bed, running his hand through Peter's hair as he cried.

It had to be almost two hours later when Peter cried himself to sleep.

It had taken one more for Tony.

\- - -

He didn't know how long it had been.

Hammer hadn't come back, Peter remained with him in their small cell, curled up to his chest as they squeezed onto the single bed. Peter's wounds had begun to heal steadily, the cut on his cheek and eyebrow being the first ones to heal completely along with some small bruises. Then, some of the more serious bruises, though they weren't gone completely. The only time any of them moved was to use the toilet, or when a guard gave them a small portion of food and water to share between them. Tony had made sure to give Peter more. Afterwards, the both of them would curl right back into the same position and just hug each other for hours on end, even Tony giving into the hope that they would be saved.

It must have been a week or more, he wasn't sure. It felt like longer.

It felt very similar to Afghanistan.

Peter had never seemed so innocent and fragile in the entire time of Tony knowing him. He had cried more times than Tony had ever seen him cry, he had curled into him like a small child craving comfort from their parent. Tony couldn't begin to wonder how badly his Aunt would be freaking out, along with Peter's best friend. Ted, Ned, he couldn't really remember.

He had no idea what went down in his tower after they were taken. Was the people working in there okay? Or had Hydra killed them?

He had come to the conclusion that Hydra had completely reeked havoc in his tower. He was convinced the majority of the people in there were dead, he was convinced that they all died because of him. They were working there, after all, and once again more people had been caught up in Tony's old quarrels. How Hammer had escaped jail was beyond him.

Sometimes he thought of Steve, and the other Avengers, hoping they were at least looking for them. Yeah, he had a rocky past with most of them. But that didn't matter right now. Nothing to do with his and Cap's scuffle mattered to him right now.

There was a kid in his arms, nothing else mattered but getting him out safely.

Many more days passed with these exact thoughts, Tony barely managing to keep up a stable conversation with Peter. He figured the kid didn't really want to talk, so he let him be. If Tony's attempts at comfort were enough, he was okay with it.

How had they ended up in this mess?

It had been exactly five seconds after Tony had that thought when voices broke the now normal silence. Peter tensed up incredibly in his arms, his arms wrapping tighter around Tony's chest as he pulled him closer. Fear shot through his bloodstream like ice, his heart beginning to pound with terror that Peter was going to be taken away from him again. He could hear Peter beginning to panic, his soft cries breaking the silence also. God, he was traumatised.

Peter was vulnerable, and Hammer had taken advantage of that. With one beating, Peter was traumatised, and it didn't even matter if he had super powers or not. He was just a kid, and he was reacting how any other kid would in this type of situation. He cried.

"M-Mr S-Stark?" Peter whispered, his voice muffled by Tony's chest.

"Call me Tony, for god's sake." Tony whispered, his voice shaking as he rubbed a hand up and down Peter's back.

"T-Tony." Peter mumbled, Tony smiling slightly. "Something bad's gonna happen."

The smile fell, and so did Tony's heart. In one movement, he flipped around, hauling Peter over so he had his back to the wall instead of the cell. Peter whimpered from the sudden movement, though he pressed incredibly closer to Tony as the voices began to get louder. "They're gonna take m-me again."

"No, kid." Tony whispered, pressing his face into Peter's hair. "They won't. I won't let them."

Peter choked on a sob, pressing his face further into Tony's chest. Usually, if someone had touched him there, he would have gone into a full-blown panic attack. Ever since Afghanistan and Obadiah, that had been a sensitive spot, even more so after the reactor was taken out. Even though it had been so long ago, the pain was still fresh and always would be. But this was Peter. Peter was looking for comfort, not to rip his now non-existent reactor out of his chest.

He sighed, tears coming to his own eyes as the voices got louder and louder until they arrived at the door. Without hesitation it seemed, the cell door was yanked open with a screech of metal, and before he could curl over Peter more to protect him, something was jabbing his back and he was screaming. Someone yanked him off of the bed, Peter slipping away from him as he howled in pain, the electricity rocketing throughout his whole body as he fell onto the floor in a heap of limbs and yells.

He was coughing when Peter was pulled past him, his whimpers and calls for him filling his ears as he tried to sit up, his back aching as he tried to crawl his way over to Peter and the solider who was holding him. Though, before he could get far, that same pain was filling his back as he was tased, his howling yells which soon turned into gurgles filling his own ears as he felt face first onto the ground, his muscles twitching as the electricity faded out. Everything hurt.

Before he could compose himself, someone was grabbing him by his hair and yanking him onto his knees. He made a sound that sounded a lot like a screech, his neck hurting with the force of his head being pulled back so violently. He was then forced to look over at Peter, who was being held between two guards, Justin Hammer standing beside him with that sickening smile on his face. Never had Tony felt so weak. It disgusted him.

"Have you considered my desires yet, Mr. Tony Stark?"

Tony could barely respond, his throat burning and body aching as the remains of the electrocution spread through him. "I d-don't know w-where that- t-that b-bastard Barnes i-is."

"Hm," Hammer wondered, a mocking finger tapping on his chin. "Is it weird that I don't believe you?"

Tony wanted to spit on him. "I d-don't know where he is."

"Alright then. The kid it is." Tony launched himself in Hammer's direction as soon as the words left his mouth, an angry growl leaving his mouth as Peter watched him with fearful eyes. The soldier yanked him back, Tony feeling something cold against his temple. Oh, God. Peter's eyes widened even more, Tony feeling his insides curling as the gun pressed against his warm skin. "Tell me where The Winter Soldier is, or we're going to experiment on the kid until he can't even feel his own skin."

"I already t-told you, I don't know where h-he is!" Tony yelled, barely wincing when the gun was pressed harder into his temple. "G-God, what h-happened to you in jail?"

"I don't like it when I'm lied to, Tony." Hammer whispered mockingly, gesturing to the other guards to take Peter away. Tony began to struggle, barely stopping to acknowledge the gun cocked on him. Peter was also struggling, trying to get to him, and what Tony saw next would never, ever get that out of his head.

Peter had begun to convulse, the sound of electricity filling his ears as Peter's body fell from the guard's grip and onto the floor. After a few seconds it stopped, Peter's whimpering filling his ears as he was yanked back off of the ground and dragged out of the cell. 

Tony was screaming. "No!" He was electrocuted again.

He didn't move until the guard left him, the baton hopefully far away from him as the screeching of metal on metal tore at his eardrums, the cell door closing and enforcing the fact that he hadn't been able to protect Peter. God.

They were going to experiment on him. 

He didn't move from where he was sprawled out face-first onto the floor, tears leaking from his eyes as he listened to Peter's cries fade away, and soon he was back into the silence he had become so used to. But now, it was different. There was no Peter, and he was now in danger. 

And Tony could do nothing about it.

He didn't move from the floor for hours, his eyes staring into nothing as the tears leaked from them. His entire body ached, his mind was running at full speed and he was helpless. Peter was gone, he had no suit, Steve and the others probably weren't ever going to find them. Or maybe, he didn't care. Steve had never seemed to care about him.

"God, now I'm going insane." Tony mumbled to himself, hating how broken and raspy his voice was. "I'm even t-talking to myself. Great. W-When did I get so insecure..."

He sighed, closing his eyes as the shaky breath left his body. He was going to go insane.

He never fell asleep, he never got up, even when his bladder began to beg for release despite having drunk very little. He continued to wonder about Peter, he continued to wonder if he was ever going to see the kid again. Sure, they hadn't been all that close before all of this, but he was sure as hell only just realising how much Peter meant to him. It had always been there, he was sure, but he had always pushed it away.

And now look. He may never see the kid again.

He knew Justin Hammer was insane, he had of course hired Ivan to create drones for him which ended up destroying and killing people at his Expo. Justin Hammer was psychotic. 

He was experimenting- no, he was torturing a child. 

If he wanted to get to Tony, why wasn't he doing it to him instead?

_Because you don't have weird superpowers, dip shit._

How did Hammer even know about Peter?

Tony's only conclusion had been that Hammer and Hydra had been watching them for a while, just waiting for a chance to attack. It had to be it.

Sometime during his hours of wallowing in pain on the cold concrete floor, he finally used whatever strength he had left to push himself up into a seated position. His muscles screamed in protest, one of Tony's hands reaching backwards to touch the spot where the device had electrocuted him, wincing when his fingers directly touched skin. The back of his undershirt had been burnt off, his skin feeling gross and burned. Great.

He managed to get to his feet, ignoring the pain as he dragged himself over to the toilet, making use of it quickly before sitting down on the bed. His head was in his hands, the tears slipping through his fingers as he waited for something to happen.

Crying wasn't normal for Tony. He had barely cried in years, and hear he was, letting everything go. When had he turned into such a sob story? When had he become such a sulker?

Why did this have to happen? It would have been less emotion-rising if Peter wasn't here with him, if he had been the one being tortured instead of Peter. He was used to it.

He stayed like that, ears listening for any other sounds. There was nothing.

There was nothing, until finally, there was something.

It was voices and the scuffles of feet, along with whimpering. Peter. It had to be Peter.

He stayed put on the bed, refusing to get closer to the bars like last time. He didn't fancy being electrified again, but he had to get to Peter. He waited as the sounds got closer, and before he knew it, Peter was in his sights and his heart was in his mouth. Any thoughts of staying put was forgotten as he launched himself off of the bed, a strangled cry leaving his mouth as he took in the kid's appearance. He looked worse than last time, and Tony felt the blood roaring in his ears as he collapsed against the cell bars, desperately reaching out for his kid.

There were many new bruises, more blood, more cuts. Tony had never, ever imagined he'd see a happy and excited kid like Peter look so broken.

He barely had any time to react before he was screaming, his body falling back and landing against the floor as the electricity shot through him. He twitched on the ground, so similar to the first time Peter had been brought back to him as he watched through blurred eyes as the kid was thrown next to him.

Soon, the cell door was closed and Tony was rolling over to face Peter. "K-kiddie."

Somehow, despite all of the kid's injuries, Peter was clawing his way across the concrete to get to Tony. Tony did the same, ignoring the pain shooting through him as he used the floor as leverage. It was when he reached Peter when the annoying, evil voice of Justin Hammer broke out.

"Have you considered your options yet, Mr. Stark?" Tony ignored him, grabbing Peter and pulling him towards himself. Peter was shaking like a leaf, blood dripping down his forehead as he curled into Tony's hold. "Have you decided to tell me where Barnes is?"

"I a-already told you. I don't know where that b-bastard is!" Tony yelled, Peter flinching but not pulling away. "I haven't seen him f-for years. We were never friends, y'know."

Tony's heart clenched as his mind momentarily went back to the memories of seeing the man kill his parents, but he ignored it for the sake of Peter. 

"Why do I still think you're lying to me?" Tony repressed a groan, pressing his face into Peter's hair as the kid continued to shake against him. "You have another week to consider your options, Stark."

A week. A week to consider the options he didn't fucking have?

He never answered the psychopath, focussing all of his attention on cradling Peter as the two of them laid broken on the floor. There was a cackle from Hammer before they were leaving, the silence encasing Peter and himself once again as they left. Once it was completely silent, indicating that they were gone, Tony finally mustered up the courage to talk to the broken Peter in his arms.

"I'm sorry." Tony mumbled, his voice shaking. "I'm sorry I couldn't fight back."

"N-no!" Peter almost yelled, pushing himself up so he was facing Tony. "N-no."

"What?"

"N-not y-your fault." Peter mumbled, his eyes full of fear. "T-they're t-too strong."

Tony sighed, running a hand through Peter's matted hair. "What did they do to you?"

"N-needles." Peter mumbled his reply, resting his head back down on Tony's chest as if it hurt to keep it up. He didn't doubt that fact in the slightest. "T-they hit me. I t-try to fight b-back but my p-powers don't s-seem to w-w-work anymore."

"God." Tony whispered, closing his eyes and holding Peter against him. "How did we end up here..."

\- - - 

A week passed, or what Tony thought was a week. The two of them kept in the same routine of sticking to each other like glue, only getting up to use the toilet and to grab the considerably smaller portions of food they were handed.

Tony had forced Peter to have all of it. He had a higher metabolism, Tony didn't need it as much as Peter did. They were both getting smaller, weaker, and they could do nothing but wait for the inevitable to come. Tony had no idea how long they had been there, in this dirty old cell with Tony's old enemy back for revenge. He found himself hoping for his old teammates to find them, hoping that they were looking for them. Tony had never been one to rely on help, but when he felt so defenceless, he found he could do nothing but hope.

Feeling defenceless wasn't new, though. He had felt it while getting open heart surgery, awake, in Afghanistan, and he had felt it when they were trying to drown him. He had felt it when Obadiah took out the reactor, and he had felt it when Maximoff played with his mind and showed him his worst nightmare. He felt it now, with Peter in his arms, a kid who had his whole life ahead of him.

Not having his suits or FRIDAY just made his hopes rely directly on the Avengers, and more so, Steve. Steve had been the one he called, Steve had been the one to destroy the arc reactor in his suit those few years ago. Despite their past, Tony found himself hoping that Steve was at least trying. They had been teammates, even friends, once. He had to be trying, at least?

Tony didn't know what hurt more. Steve ignoring his call for help, or that he might have to see the man again.

The more he thought about it along with the more time that passed, Tony found his hope dwindling and dwindling away as it got closer and closer to a week since Peter had been brought back to him. It was going to happen again, and again, and again, because Tony didn't know where that fucking James Barnes bastard was. Maybe he had been in Wakanda with Steve? The two of them were always connected to the hip when fighting against Tony.

But surely, they were out of Wakanda by now. Steve had said they were preparing the jet, they had to be out of there. If Steve had listened to him. If he still cared.

But maybe, if Tony sent Hammer in the wrong direction, it would buy them some time?

It was risky. It was very risky, but it would give them time. Time for Peter to recover, time for Steve and the rest to possibly rescue them from this hell. Maybe, just maybe, it would work. The chances were slim, but they were there. He didn't have many options left, so he decided to go with it.

So when Hammer came back after what Tony had assumed was a weeks time, he forced himself to stand and leave Peter on the bed. Peter had whimpered, curling up in a foetal position with his worried eyes watching Tony's every move. His body was healing, but very, very slowly. Tony knew it was from the lack of food altering his senses, and Tony knew that if they didn't get found soon, Peter would cop the worst of it.

He needed this plan to work.

"So, Mr. Stark, got a location for me?" Hammer sneered, his suspiciously white teeth making themselves shown. Tony repressed his own sneer, hoping his face was blank as he listened to the bastard speak. "Or should we take the kid again? We have some interesting results. He would make a great Hydra soldier, don't you think?"

Tony's heart pounded in his ears, but he ignored it. "I have a location."

Hammer's evil smile increased. "Oh, really? Care to enlighten us?

"Wakanda." Silence.

"Wakanda?" Hammer questioned, his eyes suddenly wide and mouth open, the smile vanishing off of his face. Tony felt the audacity to feel a little smug with himself for breaking Hammer's evil facade. "Wa- Wakanda?" He seemed horrified. 

"Yes." Tony replied, keeping his shoulders as buff as he could with the pain. "Last time I spoke to Rogers, he was in Wakanda. Wherever Rogers is, Barnes is."

Hammer stared at him through hooded eyes, a menacing look coming over his face. "You mean to tell me, that Barnes is in Wakanda?" Tony felt his hands begin to shake, knowing he was uncertain of Barnes' whereabouts. But Hammer didn't need to know that little detail. "You're telling me that- okay. Okay. If I find out that you're lying, and that super soldier isn't there, I'm going to do a lot worse to that kid he won't even be able to stand."

The threat wasn't empty like Tony wished it would have been. He knew for a fact that Hammer would do it. He would torture Peter if he found out he was being lied to. Which, he was.

But they had time. "You're lucky, Stark. You have no idea what we were planning for him today. You got off lucky. But if I found out you were lying.. bad things are gonna happen."

Tony narrowed his eyes, backing away from the bars as Hammer and his two soldier friends turned to leave after Hammer's threats. He could very much see the baton being raised in his direction, and he did not hesitate to back away from the bars. He didn't know how many times he had been electrocuted since they had been taken there, but he wasn't about to add to that number.

Because, of course, it fucking hurt.

He slowly moved back to Peter, who had pushed himself up into a seated position. "Do you r-really know where he i-is?" Peter was whispering, Tony barely catching what he was saying. Tony knew that there was probably microphones or cameras hidden within the cell somewhere, and Tony had been very careful with what he had been saying. Peter's lips barely moved when he spoke, and Tony could barely tell if that was from pain or the fact that Peter knew they could be being listened to.

Tony shook his head once very slightly, hoping Peter would catch it. He seemed to, his eyes resembling both knowing and fear as Tony made his way back to the bed. Instead of laying down, he kneeled down and reached up to caress Peter's bruises cheek.

Peter didn't flinch, his saddened eyes staring right at Tony. "It'll give us some time." He murmured, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. "It gives the others some time to find us."

Peter nodded once, a few tears beginning to leak from his brown eyes. Tony wiped the tears away, feeling his heart beginning to plummet. What if they didn't find them in time? What if Hammer returned Barnes-less, which he would, before the others could reach them?

It wasn't even guaranteed that the others were even looking for them.

There was nothing else he could do.

\- - - 

Tony had no idea how long it had been since he had told Hammer where he thought Barnes might be, but it almost felt like it had been a month. He had noticed they had been getting given bigger portions of food and water, ever since Tony had 'confessed'. The two of them took that to their advantage, wishing and hoping that the Avengers would turn up at get them out.

Now, Tony was hardly one to rely on the Avengers. Fuck, he was an Avenger.

But after being stuck in that cell for so long, he had no idea how he felt anymore. He felt raw and exposed, his emotions turning into something he would have never expected. He felt like he did in Afghanistan, though much, much worse, because there was the kid with him. 

Peter's wounds still had not fully healed, and now Tony knew it was definitely because of the lack of food. Most bruises had healed up and were gone, some of the darker ones well on their way out and almost gone. Peter almost looked like normal, though the considerably obvious weight loss and the haunted look in his eyes told Tony different. Along with the shock collar still clamped around his neck, Tony could tell that Peter was far from fine.

Tony felt the same. He felt nothing like his normal self, he felt nothing like the Avenger and Iron Man he used to be. He had no idea what was going on in the outside world, much like Afghanistan, and he had no idea if his old teammates were looking for them, also much like Afghanistan. He had been tearing himself up inside thinking about what would happen if Hammer returned without Barnes, he continued to wonder what they would do to Peter when they came back empty handed.

Peter was asleep, his head cradled into it's now familiar spot on Tony's chest. Cuddling and curling up for comfort had become their new normal, and there was nothing else they could do but talk quietly with each other or sleep. Tony was terrified, and he knew Peter was too.

The kid still had no clothes but his boxers, and Tony had gradually lost his undershirt. It had become drenched in blood from Peter's injuries, along with the hole in the back and the beginning of one in the front, so he ended up abandoning it completely, along with the tie. The items of clothes laid abandoned on the floor next to the single bed, and Tony found himself drawing comfort out of the skin-to-skin contact.

Maybe, in another universe, this would be weird. Peter wasn't his kid, he wasn't his kid by blood, and Tony had never once thought about having kids. Tony had never thought of Peter as his kid until this had all happened, and now he felt like he would do anything and more to keep him safe. Well, he had felt that before, but given the circumstances, every feeling he had was amplified.

So maybe he thought of Peter as his own kid, even though he had never wanted any before. So maybe he wanted a kid. Maybe he- he didn't even know what the fuck he wanted anymore. He was going insane, and not slowly either. He had been going insane from the first day stuck inside that cell.

In conclusion, Tony felt very lost and scared.

Tony Stark never felt lost and scared.

Aside from some moments in Afghanistan. Déjà Vu, right?

With a sigh, he ran a hand through Peter's hair when he shifted slightly in his sleep. To add onto their list of problems, they both had been having nightmares every time they managed to get some sleep, and Tony had never wished for it any more. He could cope without sleep usually, but giving his body was lacking food and water and literally everything, he was finding it harder and harder to stay awake and fight away the nightmares.

When he was awake, he was living a nightmare. When he was asleep, he felt the exact same. There was no escape.

He was rocketed out of his thoughts when there was a sudden slam from somewhere down the corridor, Tony almost jumping out of his skin as yelling began to echo off of the walls. Peter woke up instantly, his worried but tired eyes snapping open to look at Tony and then over his shoulder at the cell's opening.

The sounds of footsteps and voices made Tony's heart pound unreasonably fast, the fear once again shooting through his veins like a wildfire. They had run out of time.

They had failed.

His assumption was immediately confirmed when he laid eyes on the furious face of Justin Hammer, the longer hair and the lack of glasses signifying that it had been a while since their last encounter. Tony surveyed the man, his eyes finding the small remote in his hand far too late.

He saw the exact moment when Hammer's finger pressed down onto the small button, and not even a second later Peter was convulsing in his arms. Tony jumped, looking down at his kid in a panic, only to be faced with the sight of the whites of Peter's eyes.

"Stop!" Tony screamed, the electric shocking sound burning right into his ear as Peter convulsed next to him. "Stop it!"

"I asked you two months ago if you knew where The Winter Soldier was!" Hammer quite literally screamed over Peter's gurgled sounds, the electrocution not ceasing. "I told you I don't like liars, Stark!"

"I wasn't lying, you psychopath!" Tony yelled back, trying desperately to yank the collar off of Peter. He winced when the shock went into his fingers, the pain spiralling into his arm and to his shoulders. "Fucking stop this! Torture me or whatever, for fucks sake, stop electrocuting him you sick bastard!"

"Oh, I was already planning that." Hammer sniggered, his voice still loud enough to be heard over the roaring in Tony's ears. "This is just the beginning, Stark. We almost got convicted for breaking into Wakanda! We almost became criminals!"

Tony couldn't believe it. They had actually managed to break into Wakanda? How? "You're already criminals! Look who you're walking for, dip shit!"

As soon as he was finished, Peter convulses ceased. Whimpers filled his ears, Tony immediately rushing to comfort his distressed kid. Tony hated the look of the burns on his neck, tears coming to his eyes as Peter jerkily but desperately clawed at his skin, trying to get closer. Tony would have let him if pain didn't erupt into his side.

Blinded by his sheer panic for Peter, he hadn't noticed or heard the cell door being opened, and therefore had failed to notice the baton coming for the bare skin of his hip.

He screamed when the baton came in contact with him, his body now being the one to convulse as he began to slip off of the bed. His body soon hit the concrete, the baton only moving to stab at his other side when his body rolled over, Peter staying on the bed. It didn't stop until he was being dragged out of the room and away from his kid, his screams being the only thing he could hear as he desperately fought against the guards. He tried to get leverage, but he never managed to, because before he knew it, a needle was once again stabbing into his neck and the roof was turning into a treadmill.

No. Not again, not again. Peter was alone. He couldn't leave Peter alone. Not here.

That was his last thought before the nameless drug took over him.

\- - - 

Everything was a blur after that.

He remembered waking up a few times to sheer hot pain, he remembered seeing Hammer's furious face and the fist coming towards his own. He remembered falling in an out, waking up never being very pleasant. Waking up had never really been pleasant for him, but he had become used to it. It wasn't like this, though. 

There was definitely something different about waking up this time. He wasn't screaming from his nightmares, and there was no furious Justin Hammer there laughing in his face like he would have expected, continuously punching him for giving the false location of James Barnes. He was staring up at the roof, the roof looking very similar to the one in the cell he had been trapped in for... two months? Three months? He had no idea anymore.

He blinked a couple of times, groaning when his head pounded with the movement. There was something in his hair, on his face, on his arms and legs. It felt dried and uncomfortable, and it only took him a few moments to realise that it must be blood. Dried blood. There was nothing else it could possibly be. With his vague memories of waking up to Hammer punching the shit out of him, there was no other option. It was definitely his blood.

Almost as if the pain was triggered by this realisation, his whole body began to scream in something almost like agony. He slowly raised his head, only to see the ugly purple bruises covering his chest and arms and legs. There was cuts all over him, drying blood coating his skin as his head pounded continuously. God, what the hell had happened? If he was out of it for most of the time, what benefit did Hammer and his minions even get out of it?

Wasn't the whole purpose of torture to be for the person to feel every ounce of pain possible?

He rested his head back onto the concrete, rolling it to the side to look at his surroundings as his mind moved at an alarming speed, a million thoughts making themselves known at once. He felt his eyes widen when he spotted Peter, his face covered in blood and sweat, little cuts littering his skin along with a whole lot of new bruises. Sheer panic filled his mind as he forced himself to sit up, ignoring all of his body's protests as he dragged his way over to his kid with both hands, his legs seeming to refuse to help aid his movements. 

He gently pulled Peter towards him, almost yelling in relief when Peter stirred and flinched upon being moved. He wasn't dead. Peter was alive, battered, but alive. They were both alive, for now. 

His whole body ached as he gently shook Peter by the shoulder, trying to get a reaction out of him to get him back into consciousness. Tony had no idea if he had been injected with drugs like him, or if he had been beaten into unconsciousness. Tony's stomach churned at the latter, his teeth chewing his lip as worried tears began to fill his eyes. 

He quite literally sobbed in relief when Peter's eyebrows furrowed, the dry blood on his face cracking as his face moved. How long had they both been out for?

After a few more minutes of watching Peter's stirring, the kid's eyes slowly blinked open, immediately filling up with tears when they looked up and focussed on Tony.

Tony had no idea what he looked like, and he found himself not wanting to. The kid looked horrified, his shaky hand reaching up to push against Tony's cheek which was surely covered in blood. "W-what h-h-happened?"

Tony sighed, letting the tears fall freely. "I don't know, Petey. I've been in and out this whole time. How do I look?"

He tried cracking a joke. He really did. But all it seemed to do was make Peter look even more terrified. "H-hurt."

"I'm- I'm fine." Tony mumbled, knowing very well that he was nowhere near fine. Peter also didn't seem to believe him in the slightest, his head shaking back and forth as he began to slowly curl into Tony's hold, the action so familiar that they fell together like puzzle pieces. "Don't worry about me."

"A-are they r-really looking f-f-for us?" Peter whispered, resting his head on Tony's shoulder, Tony absentmindedly trying to wipe the blood off of the kid's face. His heart clenched in dejection, the tears still falling from his eyes as he avoided eye contact, focussing more on the blood on his kid's face. "A-are they g-gonna f-find us?"

"Yes." Tony mumbled, chewing on his lip as he continued to wipe the blood away. Peter had wrapped his arms around his stomach, the tears still running evidently down his cheeks as he listened to Tony talk, a vacant look on his face. "We're not gonna die down here."

"B-but.." Peter whispered, closing his eyes slowly before opening them. "W-what if M-Mr. Hammer kills y-you before we get out? I d-don't wanna.. I don't wanna leave w-without you."

Ouch.

Fucking ouch.

Tony felt it right smack in the middle of his chest, the tears coming faster and faster as he held Peter closer to him. They had been stuck here for months, of course it was becoming unrealistic that the Avengers would find and save them. Hell, they could be in a different country. But hearing Peter say something like that made him want to tear everything apart, starting with Hammer. That bastard should be in jail for the last disaster he had caused. 

"We're going to make it out." Tony whispered, slowly rocking Peter back and forth, which had also become normal. Peter felt like the only normal thing he had left. "None of us are going to die."

"I s-should be able to fight them." Peter continued, twisting Tony's heart in ways he had never thought was possible. They were giving up, weren't they? "I'm S-Spider-Man. I can stop c-cars and.. and a plane! I s-should be a-able to get us out."

"You're a kid." Tony whispered, resting his head on top of Peter's. "A kid with superpowers. Yeah, you can do all that stuff, but you're still a kid. No kid should be in this situation. You shouldn't have to fight back against people who are hurting you."

Peter didn't reply for a few minutes, his body beginning to shake slightly. "S-sorry."

"Kid, I have no idea what you're apologising for. You don't need to apologise for something like this, this is way out of yours, and my, control." Tony replied, sighing in defeat. "I just wanted to have a movie night."

Peter, despite everything, laughed. It was a sound Tony hadn't heard for so long, a sound he had realised he had missed dearly. He missed the nerdy, stuttering and excitable fifteen year old he had become used to. His stutters now only reminded him of the trauma Peter was forced to go through, and he never smiled anymore. How could they smile in a place like this? Tony had now become used to the terrified, innocent Peter. Not the happy kid he had been when he first met him.

God, everything was burning down around him, wasn't it?

They stayed like that for hours on end, the normal silence engulfing them as they sat there, covered in blood. This was not supposed to happen to them. They had been gone for months.

It was when there was an explosion, he began to really panic. He had become so used to the silence it was almost noise to him, and hearing something so loud had startled both himself and Peter, who had never managed to fall asleep. Instantly, despite his body's protests, he dragged himself into the corner of the cell at the upper end of the bed, curling himself around Peter as the sounds of fighting began. Explosions, gun shots, yelling, everything. 

"T-Tony." Peter whispered, somehow audible over all of the noise. "I'm s-scared."

Tony forced his eyes shut, hating that he knew what was coming. They were going to die, weren't they? "Me too, kiddie."

They weren't acting like themselves. They were both traumatised. Something was happening, and they were accepting that they were going to die. Jesus, what had become of them? Everything was ruins.

Sure, he had his issues. He had been kidnapped before, he had almost died in an alien wormhole, he had created a robot that wanted to destroy the world, he had driven the Avengers apart with the Accords. He had his fair share of post traumatic stress, but that seemed like nothing more than a flesh wound to this. Here, he had a kid, trembling in his arms and seeking comfort like a child would to their parent. Tony had never been any sort of father figure, and he hadn't had a very good one, either. How had everything ended up this way?

These were just few of many thoughts going through his head, the fighting still taking place somewhere outside of the cell and it's corridor. Why they were fighting, he had no idea, and he didn't really want to know. He knew he was going to die, he knew all hope was lost. He figured that out a long time ago. Why the Hydra agents were fighting was beyond him, and his brain had begun to train itself to think of the worst. 

It was over.

He had no idea how long the fighting took place for, but it never got closer to them and he never felt or heard the gun shot he was expecting. No one ever came in to tear them away from each other, no one ever came in to hold one at gun point while the other screamed for mercy. None of that happened, and when the fighting ceased, all he could hear was his and Peter's haggard breathing.

He didn't dare to move, fearing that if he moved a single muscle everything would come crashing down and the fighting would begin all over again. They were still alive, that had to be something, right? He was horrified at the prospect of Hammer clicking that button to power the collar still clamped around Peter's neck, terrified at the sight of seeing his kid's eyes roll back into his head as he convulsed. He was terrified about himself getting shocked again, which would leave him defenceless and unable to protect Peter.

When had he turned into this?

He ignored that thought, keeping his eyes closed as the silence stretched on.

But soon, he heard voices. Yelling, footsteps. He couldn't understand any of it, so instead, he curled more into Peter who did the exact same in return. In all truths, the two of them were very fucking terrified.

It was when the voices and footsteps got closer when he heard it.

"Tony!" That voice. He knew that voice. It was too good to be true. Peter had tensed up in his arms, his hold tightening dramatically as the voice called out again. "Tony! Are you in here?"

That couldn't be, it was way too good to be true. Voice modifier? A recording? There was no way Steve Rogers was in that corridor. Steve Rogers didn't care about Tony anymore.

"Tony!" The voice was very, very close now. "Tony!"

It couldn't be possible. "Steve?" 

He was whispering, there was no way the super solider would have heard him. "Tony!"

Maybe he could take a chance. "In.. In here!" He yelled as loud as he could, letting his head rise from where he had been hiding it in Peter's hair, craning his neck to look over at the cell's entrance. The door was still locked shut, and there was no one there. "Here!"

"Tony!" The voice was even louder now. The footsteps were louder, everything was louder. Someone was coming. Steve was coming? "Tony!"

Then, someone rounded the corner. Tony's mouth dropped open when he saw the uniform, ripped and altered, the face of Steve Rogers appearing in his vision behind the cell's bars. He had a beard, his hair was long, and it didn't look like Steve at all. An imposter? Had Hydra somehow made some fucked up clone of Captain America himself? Was he hallucinating what he wanted to see? Was he dreaming? God, was he already dead?

Because there was no way Steve Rogers was here, after the few years of zero contact after their fight in Siberia.

"Steve..." 

Steve's eyes snapped over to them, his eyes widening the size of saucers. Tony watched in disbelief and nostalgia as Rogers threw his arms up, strange-shaped shields on both wrists. It was a vivid reminder of the shield he still had in the tower, complete with scratches from T'Challa suit and the colours of Captain America. He pushed down both the fear and memories down, watching as Steve slammed the shields onto the lock and almost effortlessly broke the locks off of the door. The cell was being opened in seconds, and Tony couldn't help but lean in the direction of Steve as he came running over, despite the intense fear he felt seeing the man again.

Peter was also watching, Tony able to see his wide eyes in the corners of his own. Steve knelt down in front of him, his eyes full of concern as they looked over Tony, and then Peter. Tony could feel his heart pounding harder and harder the more he looked at the both familiar and unfamiliar face of his old friend, memories he had been trying to forget beginning to arise at full force. 

"Shit.."

"Language." Tony mumbled, ignoring all of the memories filtering through his mind. Steve was watching him with sad eyes now, his longer hair beginning to fall out of place as he reached forward to clamp a hand on Tony's shoulder. He had flinched, the bruises in that spot screaming from the pressure, along with the vivid flash of the shield coming down onto his reactor. Steve didn't let his hand up, though there was a flash of regret in his eyes. 

"Come on, we've gotta get you out of here. They might have reinforcements." Steve said next, and that was the exact time not one, not two, but three other people ran into the room. Tony had reared back from Steve, Peter's face turning into his chest as the heavy footsteps echoed around them. It was all over now. Steve was going to die with them, and once again, Tony had dragged his friend into something he didn't want to do.

Some friend. How had Rhodey, Pepper and Happy have possibly been around him for so many years? How could Peter stand him?

Instead of standing up and fighting the intruders off, Steve turned around and started talking. "Stop running! Stop, you're scaring them. Stop!"

Tony slowly brought his head up, eyes becoming wider when he saw who exactly had run into the room. Clint, Natasha and Wanda. Not Hydra soldiers, not Hammer. Jesus. This couldn't be real.

Clint was the next one who knelt next to Steve, his eyes roaming over Peter and then Tony. "Hey, man." His voice sounded shaky, his eyes conveying worry when they met with Tony's. He didn't answer, blinking back his tears and the blur his eyes were becoming. He couldn't believe what was happening. He remembered his last encounter with Clint on the Raft, he remembered the strong feeling of guilt. That had also been something he had been trying to forget.

"Tony, we've got to get out of here." Steve repeated, the hand on his shoulder tightening as he met eyes with Tony. "The jet's outside. Gotta get you to the doctors, the kid too. Come on."

Tony began nodding despite himself, letting Steve manhandle him into a standing position. Peter clung onto him the entire time, Steve pretty much holding up their combined weight as they leant heavily on each other and him. Clint was watching with concerned eyes, his hands out as if they were going to topple over at any second. It was true, they probably were, but he ignored that part as Steve continued to speak. "Yeah, that's it. Come on."

Tony had tried to move his legs, but with the weight of Peter on him and his injuries, his knees couldn't do anything but buckle. Having no time to feel embarrassed, he toppled back onto the Captain with the kid in his arms, his eyes blurring as his stomach swirled.

"Alright, Tony, I'm going to carry the kid, and Clint will help you." Steve had begun, and instantly Tony felt like screaming and shoving out of his old friend's grip. Despite how much he wanted to, he had no energy left, and he was pretty sure he would fall over trying to throw a punch at Steve anyways. They had no time. "I promise he'll be back with you on the jet."

Tony forced himself to nod, letting Clint wrap his own arm around his shoulders and his own around his waist. Steve moved forwards, Tony watching as intently as he could as Peter was gently lifted away from him. He hated that it was Steve holding his kid, he hated that he was in the arms of the man who had almost killed him. He hated it, he hated everything. But they had no other choice, and Tony had no energy to be angry with any of them.

"T-Tony." His heart had screamed when he heard Peter whimper, a shaky hand reaching out for him as he was placed on Cap's hip. Tony knew for a fact that in any other situation, Peter would be gawking at the fact of Captain America holding him like he was two years old. But right now, nothing mattered more than getting the hell out of there. "M-Mr S-Stark."

Tony couldn't answer. He couldn't look.

Tony let Clint begin to drag him through the building, Peter being carried by Steve just ahead of them as Natasha and Wanda followed. Tony couldn't help feeling a little unsettled by Wanda, just like he had after she manipulated his mind. He had caught eyes with Natasha, who had adverted hers to the floor, her expression remaining blank.

Walking through what Tony had assumed was the Hydra base was horrifying.

There were bodies, everywhere. Had Steve, Clint, Natasha and Wanda really done that? By themselves?

He let the thought float away as he was dragged outside, the ice cold wind burning his skin and agitating his wounds as he was pulled across the grass and in the direction of the familiar jet. The jet from the German airport. He had no time to think about it as he was hauled into the said jet, letting Clint assist him in laying down on a stretcher that didn't belong inside the jet. Had they known they were going to find them?

There was too stretchers, but Tony found himself not caring and looking around desperately for Peter. It didn't take long for the kid to be in his sights, Steve moving to lay him down in the stretcher identical to Tony's. "N-no."

"M-Mr Stark." Peter whispered, Tony begging Steve with his eyes just to let it be. He seemed to do exactly that, and instead of assisting Peter into his own stretcher, he placed him right on top of Tony. Tony shakily wrapped his arms around Peter, letting his eyes close as the familiar feeling of Peter curling into him engulfed him. It wasn't long before the jet was taking off, Tony keeping his eyes closed as he held Peter. They had made it out. Had they actually made it out?

He felt a hand rest on his wrist, Tony almost jumping out of his skin. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, slowly looking over to the person who wasn't Peter touching him. His heart felt sore when he met eyes with Natasha, who was looking down at him with saddened eyes. Peter was heavily breathing into his neck, his shaking limbs making Tony's shake as he looked up at Nat.

Her hand then moved to his hair, pushing it back as if she were his mother. Tony felt his stomach somersault when he was reminded of his mother, the tears making their way to his eyes before he could stop them. He hardly ever showed emotion in front of his team when they had been together, and in less than fifteen minutes they had seen him at his absolute worst. But as Natasha ran a hand through his hair over and over like Tony always found himself doing to Peter, he let the tears fall as he really came to terms with what had just happened. His team had come back for them.

"Tony.." Natasha whispered, bringing him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry."

Tony just nodded, closing his eyes and inhaling sharply. It was over. 

After his eyes closed for the second time, he couldn't find the power to open them again. After a few minutes of trying, he found himself giving in to the sleep his body so desperately craved. For the first time in three, or four, months since Hammer had captured them, he felt comforted. His team had come back for him, Peter was alive and they were away from Hydra. At least, for now.

His team had come back for him, they had saved himself and Peter despite everything they had gone through together. They were alive.

Tony had been expecting to fall asleep only to be greeted with nightmares, but instead, he fell into one of the best sleeps he had had in a while. Maybe it was from the relief of being safe, or reuniting with some of his team, or the fact that Peter was safe and secure in his arms. He had no idea.

Though, what he did know, is that they would be okay. Maybe not now, or in a few months or even years, they would be okay. They were alive.

As long as Peter was safe, Tony would be okay.

He had been asleep when they arrived in Wakanda, and both he and Peter had been asleep when they were taken away from each other to be treated. Tony woke up hours later to the familiar face of King T'Challa, who continued to debrief and assure him that Peter was well and safe. He was informed what had happened to his tower that day, and Tony was sure he hadn't stopped hyperventilating for a solid six hours when he found out almost the entire tower's worth of people had been murdered. Murdered by Hydra. Murdered by Justin Hammer.

He had also been told that Justin Hammer had been killed during the team's attacks, and that had only done a little to relieve Tony. The thing that did give him some relief was being told that Rhodey, Pepper and Happy were safe and alive.

He had seen Natasha and Steve next. They had sat with him, told him about Peter's condition much like T'Challa had, along with countless apologies for the past few years. Tony wasn't sure if he had even recovered from that, or if he ever would, but he had been too emotionally distraught. His entire world had been sent off it's axis, and he knew it would be tough to come back from something as big as this. His tower had been invaded, and he couldn't even stop it...

Clint had joined them soon after, and Tony had found himself somehow enjoying the company from his old teammates. But nothing could tear his mind away from Peter.

Almost a day later, his kid was brought to him, and Tony was sure he had cried more than he ever had in his life. 

Tony had changed, he knew that. He knew he had become vulnerable, God, he knew an immense amount of trauma had been added onto the rest. He knew it would take a long time to recover from something as horrifying as this, but there was nothing he could do. But, the thing that mattered was that Peter had made it out alive, and Tony couldn't be any more relieved.

Sure, everything had flipped on his head. Sure, he had gone missing for a consecutive number of months once again, and sure, the whole world knew that Tony Stark's tower had been invaded by the somehow still functioning organisation called Hydra and hundreds of innocent people killed. Sure, he was fucked, but there was nothing else he could do. If he had to be strong for Peter, he would. Peter would undoubtedly have an even harder time coming out of what had just happened than Tony would have, and Tony found himself wishing he could take all of his kid's pain away and put it on his own shoulders, just so Peter didn't have to bare the burden all by himself.

But things would get better. They had to. 

All he could do was hope.

**Author's Note:**

> i do realise that they're probably out of character but i was trying to make the situation dawn on both tony and peter, y'know? we all know tony isn't immune to everything, and i just wanted to show that he's vulnerable too, if you get the gist. he can't be strong all the time, and neither can peter :')
> 
> i love my father-son duo alright.
> 
> anywaysss comment some feedback if you like :)


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